EBONYI – Igbo Muslims in Nigeria’s mainly Christian southeast region want to spread Islam in their areas, thus requesting for Islamic schools and mosques to help them practice their faith.

The announcement was made by the chairman of the Ebonyi State Muslim Pilgrims Welfare Board, Alhaji Abas Egwu, who said that Igbo Muslims are working hard to spread Islam and da`wah in the southeast, NAIGA.ng reported

This came during  his meeting with the National Organizing Secretary of the Ansar-Ud-Deen Society of Nigeria (ADS), Alhaji Ibrahim Kilani, who was visiting ADS members in Abakaliki state.

Egwu stressed the importance of the rule of the public to help spread Islam and faith with the help of Arabic and Islamic schools.

Constructing new mosques would also make it easier as well for Muslims to practice Islam.

Egwu commended what he called the fairness and impartiality of the state government towards Islam and Muslims, describing Ebonyi as the only state in eastern Nigeria which has a Muslim pilgrims’ board that is independent of the Christian board.

Nigeria, one of the world’s most religiously committed nations, is religiously polarized with the northern part being Muslim-majority, whereas the south is mainly Christian.

But Muslims and Christians, who constitute 55 and 40 percent of Nigeria’s almost 200 million population respectively, have lived in peace for the most part.

In November 2013, eighteen Igbo men from Nigeria’s mainly Christian southeast region embraced Islam at the National Mosque Abuja, in Nigeria’s capital.

A Christian monarch and a daughter of a pastor had earlier in 2013 reverted to Islam, the latter drawing widespread controversy over claims that she was hypnotized by a Muslim monarch in the country’s north-central city Bida, Niger state.

The Pastor’s daughter, Aisha, denied being hypnotized, insisting her choice of Islam was strictly a personal decision driven by conducts of Muslims around her.